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Space for Rent!

Paul Hagan's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Green / White Casual
6.06.05

Hey all, and welcome back to the Deck Garage. Saviors hit stores this week, so feel free to start sending in your take on the new cards’ fit into decks. That said, on to this week’s e-mail…

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CREATURES (24):
4 Lanowar Elves
3 Birds of Paradise
2 Skyshroud Elves
3 River Boa
4 Simian Grunts
3 Hunting Moa
1 Argothian Wurm
1 Lhurgoyf
2 Elvish Lyrist
1 Exalted Angel

NON-CREATURE SPELLS (18):
1 Aluren
3 Armageddon
3 Humble
1 Swords to Plowshares
3 Armadillo Cloak
1 Mirari's Wake
2 Disenchant
1 Cursed Scroll
3 Nature's Resurgance
LANDS (18):
2 Plains
8 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
4 Brushlands
2 Vec Townships
1 Rishidan Port

Basically, get a creature advantage then Armageddon or Mirari's Wake. I'd like to keep this legal for Extended and 1.5 tournies, but mostly I play casual, which explains all the 1 and 2 copies. Budget-wise, I would prefer not to have to splurge on 3 Umewaza's Jittes, but I don't have a problem picking up a few commons and uncommons, or an amazing rare.

Thanks a ton in advance!

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OK, the first thing that comes to mind when looking at this decklist is actually already mentioned in the e-mail – 1-ofs and 2-ofs are all over the place. Having a lot of 1-ofs and 2-ofs winds up reducing the consistency of the deck, as you are less likely to draw what you want when you want it. The first round of cuts relates to pulling cards that don’t really warrant additional slots, which leads us to ask if they really belong in the first place.

Argothian Wurm is the first on the list. The drawback associated with the card is just too much for me to give it room in the deck.

-1 Argothian Wurm

Lhurgoyf is also gone. Generally, I see Lhurgoyf as a card that is good only in decks that are designed around abusing him, and this deck isn’t one of those decks.

-1 Lhurgoyf

Aluren goes in the same category of Lhurgoyf – great if the deck is built around it, otherwise only so-so.

-1 Aluren

Skyshroud Elf is the next card on the chopping block. With both Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves in the deck, putting copies of Skyshroud Elf in the deck is just excessive.

-2 Skyshroud Elf

For the same reasons Skyshroud Elf is going, I think we can probably cut Mirari’s Wake. We already have a ton of mana production in the deck, so we can make room for better cards by cutting a few.

-1 Mirari’s Wake

Next, I’d like to round out a few sets of cards. For example, why only three Birds of Paradise? Getting an early jump on your opponent can be important, and having a mana producer on the table for when Armageddon hits can be crucial.

+1 Birds of Paradise

River Boa might be the best green 2-drop ever printed, and I truly believe that any deck that can make good use of it should play it. Not only is it a decent early attacker, but it can hold off any size of creature that doesn’t have trample or some sort of evasion ability.

+1 River Boa

I saw the lone copy of Exalted Angel in this deck, and had to throw in a full set. What this deck currently lacks is a good finisher, and I think Exalted Angel fits the bill, especially since she can be morphed with a low amount of mana.

+3 Exalted Angel

The last of the cards I have to fill out is Swords to Plowshares. As I stated in a CotD a while back, in my opinion, the best removal spell ever printed is Swords to Plowshares. The definition of a 5-star card, Swords deserves a slot in any deck that can play it.

+3 Swords to Plowshares

I want to throw in a few more creatures and land, so I’m going to have to make a bit more room. Although Simian Grunts are kinda neat with their instant-speed, I think that regeneration and a lower cost might fit the bill better. Therefore, I’m going to replace them with Albino Troll.

-4 Simian Grunts
+4 Albino Troll

Who likes 5/5s that can’t be targeted by spells or abilities? Who likes 5/5s that can’t be targeted by spells or abilities that are cheap? I sure do! With Albino Troll already eating up the Echo Requirement of this deck, I think Hunting Moa can take a trip back to the Spares Box and Blastoderm can come in and take its place.

-3 Hunting Moa
+3 Blastoderm

As the last little bit of housekeeping, I’m going to cut out Humble (since we added Swords, we don’t need the removal) and Nature’s Resurgence. Although I can’t definitely say that Resurgence is a bad card, I do need to make room for a few more lands, and it is the weakest link of the remaining cards.

-3 Humble
-3 Nature’s Resurgence

As the last stage of the work on this deck, I’m going to change up the land to reflect the new cards. Also, I’m throwing in a few more copies of Rishadan Port, as it seems to work incredibly well just after an Armageddon.

4 Brushland
8 Forest
1 Gaia’s Cradle
5 Plains
4 Rishadan Port

The final decklist will look like this…

CREATURES (25):
4 Albino Troll
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Blastoderm
2 Elvish Lyrist
4 Exalted Angel
4 Llanowar Elves
4 River Boa

NON-CREATURE SPELLS (13):
3 Armadillo Cloak
3 Armageddon
1 Cursed Scroll
2 Disenchant
4 Swords to Plowshares

LANDS (22):
4 Brushland
8 Forest
1 Gaia’s Cradle
5 Plains
4 Rishadan Port

Hope that helps, and good luck!

I’ll see y’all next week.

-Paul Hagan